A hermit's observations
by JoergenJetsam
Summary: Toyosatomimi no Miko in Arendelle. Not action heavy at all. First fic.
1. Arrival

The cloaked figure was moving at a brisk pace, easily navigating through the cobblestone streets. It was a rather pleasant night, truth be told, and the figure did pause a while to enjoy the view of the fjord from where she stood.

While continuing her walk through the streets, the figure moved her left hand up to her ears, taking off her earmuffs and putting them around her neck. There weren't any people around anyway, and the town was deathly quiet.

A few more steps and around a corner, the woman stood in front of what she had come here for. In front of her, beyond a stone bridge, loomed Arendelle's royal palace.

The figure allowed herself a bit of satisfaction at having come so far, her lips curling up in a smirk. All that remained was getting in, which seemed simple enough.

The castle itself was actually slightly smaller than she had envisioned in her mind. It was still however, undeniably elegant and majestic, with the main building being rather tall. The walls surrounding it seemed sturdy, with three round towers that she could see. In the dark, it was hard to say anything with absolute certainty though.

Eyeing the two uniformed men standing guard above the castle gates, gazing out over the parapets, the figure let out a sigh. With a swish of her cloak, she disappeared, only to reappear again directly behind the two. She was going to jump down into the courtyard when the guards' conversation caught her attention.

"At any rate, I hope the princesses are fine." one of them said."Don't worry like that; the king seemed to know what he was doing when he set off," Came the reply. "He'll fix things."

"I hope you're right." His colleague muttered.

Having heard what she wanted to hear, the woman behind the two guards hopped down from the ramparts, landing gracefully in the courtyard with no harm done to herself. Looking back up the wall, she tried to judge how far of a drop it was.

A thought came over her while she did so. _Oh heavens above, I'm behaving like Seiga._ The realization almost, but not quite, brought forth a chuckle. Burying the thought, she moved on, reflecting on what the guards had said instead._ So… there is something wrong with the princesses, and the king has set off to fix things. Obviously, it's not something ordinary, or they'd have simply called for someone instead of setting off into the night._

While entering the castle and sneakily moving through the corridors, she concluded that she hadn't really received all that much in terms of information. She did not know whether or not the princesses were with their father, nor what had happened. The lack of information was actually rather annoying, but she only had herself to thank in all honesty. If she had lingered awhile longer, she could have easily discerned what had happened simply through observing the two men, but that would also give her insight into their lives in general, which she wasn't sure she wanted.

As she strode through the corridors, the intruder came into a large hall. Normally, this wouldn't have been worthy of comment, as most royal residences have more large halls than one can shake a stick at. What was worthy of comment however, were the piles of... well if her eyes weren't deceiving her; snow. Arranged in a rough semicircle, they were of varying height. There was also a small snowman by the side, and patches of ice.

Running a hand through the powdery substance, she smiled. There was something magical about it, and judging by the feel, it was also fresh. _So, things might not be so mundane here after all. I think I might confront the king about this. Perhaps it'll convince him to let me stay. This does seem like a nice place, all things considered._

And so, patiently, she waited, for the king to return and for the confirmation of her suspicions.

Eventually, after an indeterminable length of time, the king returned. As he stepped into the hall, holding his daughter's hand in his own, the intruder stirred. Having floated up to the ceiling, she was currently gazing down at the royal family. With her overly sensitive ears, which often required earmuffs, she was easily able to pick up what they were saying.

"Remember, tomorrow, we'll close the gates. I'll see through the staff, decide who we will keep. For now, I'll find a new room for Elsa. You take Anna to hers." The king said, pointing up the large staircase at the back of the hall. The queen simply nodded and, keeping a hold of the child in her arms, moved up the stairs with consummate care. The other princess, Elsa, followed the two with her eyes until they disappeared through the door, before asking, "Do we have to be isolated from each other?" The tone was pleading, but also somewhat guilty.

For the intruder, making out details in the dark was hard, but it seemed as though the king went down on one knee before replying, "Yes Elsa, until you learn control, I'm afraid doing so is the only way to keep her safe. I'm sorry, but you will have to shut Anna out for the time being."

Getting back on his feet, the king once more took his daughters hand, and led her up the staircase, but taking another door at the top than that the queen had used. Following the two, floating a few centimetres off the ground so as not to make a sound, was the cloaked woman, still interested in what was currently transpiring.

Inwardly, she was praising herself for having deduced correctly what had happened up until now.

As the king led his daughter through the corridor to her new room, the intruder was busy judging him through his desires. _A rather virtuous king, to be sure. Quite a bit of pride though, and stubborn. Not necessarily bad traits for a monarch though. Doubt is generally ones greatest enemy when it comes to running a state. At the very least, he cares for his family. Not sure if this is the best way of fixing things though. That troll seemed overly cryptic._

Smirking at the last bit, as she realized it was her abilities of discernment and insight that had granted that last piece of information.

Having tucked his daughter into her new bed, the king was now closing the door to Elsa's room. Lethargy was present in his motions, and he let out a weary sigh. Picking himself up, he walked back down the way he came through the corridor. He stopped however, his gaze drawn to the figure standing by the doorway to the hall.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he said, evidently not in a mood for any jokes.

Not unduly surprised at this, the intruder lifted both her hands in a placating gesture. "Just someone who's looking for a place to spend her nights. I'd very much like for that to be here, since you very likely have a room to spare."

The king frowned at this, obviously not liking what he had heard. "Unfortunately, I cannot acquiesce to your request. The caste gates will from tomorrow onwards be locked, and I'm planning on thinning my staff as well. I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave now." The king was slightly suspicious of the person in front of him. She had a somewhat smug air about her, and seemed to be playing around with him slightly. However, he was a bit too tired to really be riled up by this. Admittedly, his drowsiness and bad mood might have something to do with being cautious in the first place.

Perhaps sensing this, the intruder's smile grew slightly wider. "I know about the locking of the castle gates and the thinning of the staff. You're planning to limit your daughters contact with the outside world until she learns control, correct? You also don't want her powers becoming known. If you don't let me stay, what's to stop me from telling everyone?" The woman knew quite a bit about the king at this point, so she was quite aware the king likely would not have her killed or put in the dungeons. The only crimes she had committed so far were trespassing and eavesdropping, and now blackmail. The first wasn't even a proper crime, as the castle's open gates had been a symbol that the royal family's home was open for those in need. The second would be more or less impossible to use against her, since this was information only three humans and a very large number of trolls should have had access to. She was aware that the king would go rather far in keeping this a secret, keeping both daughters locked up was testament to that. The third... well if it could be used against her it would defeat the point anyway.

"So you're blackmailing me…" The king muttered. It was a statement, not a question. The figure in front of him shrugged in response. "If it helps, I don't particularly enjoy doing so. I never expected to hear any of this initially, though I did perhaps become overeager to know the truth when I first caught wind of this."

Having grown tired of all that had transpired that night, with stress clouding his judgement, the king gave in. "There's a small room on the top floor. You may use it."

Bowing in response, the figure turned to leave, when the king, in a sudden moment of clarity said, "You never answered my first question."

Smiling slightly, the figure in front of him took off her cloak, folding it neatly and setting it aside on the floor. Her light brown hair was rather messy, much of it jutting up like a pair of horns. A beige vest with rather ornate trimming covered part of a purple dress. A sheathed sword hung from a belt around her waist, a shaku tied to her back. Putting the earmuffs around her neck back over her ears, she answered, "I was once known as Prince Shoutoku. You can call me Miko."

Bowing once more, though in a slightly more carefree manner, she turned and left. The cloak was left where it was.

* * *

Author's notes: So, uh... this is my first ever fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it. I simply had the idea of seeing Toyosaomimi no Miko in the Frozenverse, and I ended up writing it.

I would appreciate reviews. Especially constructive criticism, though I am susceptible to flattery.

Thank you for reading this piece, at any rate. I might very well continue, but we'll see.


	2. A gift

Author's notes: I'm somewhat surprised at myself for writing this second chapter.

I would however, like to thank those who bothered leaving a review and those who followed this.

* * *

Miko acclimated herself rather efficiently with the castle staff over the next following days. The room that had been granted to her was rather bare, with only a bed and a few drawers. This was not an issue though, and Miko found the room to be quite satisfactory. One could see more or less the entire town and the fjord from the window, and the sun would poke through for most of the day, lighting up a bare corner of the room. Miko promptly had a table moved there, procuring one from one of the now deserted staff rooms.

The staff had in general taken it quite well when the king announced his decision to close the gates and thin the staff; there were a few protests here and there, but nothing major. Those that remained carried on with their duties as they had before. They had taken Miko's presence in stride as well, and though they were somewhat curious, they were quite good at keeping it hidden.

The people of Arendelle were less cohesive in their response. Up until now, the castle gates had always been open. To suddenly close them and fire much of the staff as well? Rumours circulated through the streets, most people not knowing what to believe. Some protested, other argued and debated the issue. Eventually though, things quieted down, the people learning to accept and live with it.

Miko for her part had been rather courteous with the staff, answering some of their more innocuous questions and deflecting the others. Kai and Gerda, the two most senior staff members, had seemingly caught on to the fact that she was hiding something, but chose not to press the issue. The king had seen fit to let her stay after all.

The hermit was currently sitting in the royal dining hall, sipping her tea. On the other side of the table sat the king and queen, both of whom were staring at her rather intently. Having just finished dinner, Anna had run off, leaving the three behind. Miko did not even need to remove her earmuffs to guess where she'd run off to. She was probably standing in front of Elsa's door right now, asking to play with her.

It was a rather painful thing to watch, and Miko did feel the tug on her heartstrings whenever she saw the dismayed look the princess wore, walking dejectedly away from her older sister's room. Anna was understandably perplexed at her older sister's newfound aloofness, and had taken to wandering the halls, a forlorn expression on her face. Sometimes she would find something else to play with, which mitigated the issue slightly. She always bounced back though, trying again and again with boundless optimism.

Taking another sip of her tea, she let her thoughts wander to other things. It was then the king decided it would be nice to speak.

"Do you intend to stay long?" He asked, still staring. Smirking slightly at the question, Miko set down her cup, looking up and directly at the royal couple, "Perhaps, we'll see how long it ends up being. I've settled in quite comfortably, so it'll probably be awhile. For the time being at least, I'm in no hurry to leave"

The king's expression grew thoughtful, before continuing," I have spoken with Kai and Gerda, they say you are hiding something. We both know it's true, as the reason for you staying is something few are privy to, but I get the feeling you are hiding something of a more personal nature as well." He let the statement hang in the air for a while, allowing his guest time to formulate a response.

"I suppose I owe you something for allowing me to stay, I did blackmail you after all, not something I enjoy doing, as I said previously." The hermit began, judging her words carefully. "Would it assuage your curiosity if I told you I had powers as well, and that I am quite a bit older than I look?"

The king took in the information quite calmly, though beside him the queen stirred at this. This was the first time she had heard their guest say anything more than "Good day" or other greetings.

The hermit, now toying a bit with her shaku, continued, "I'm a hermit. I'm not going to bother you with any in-depth explanation of what that entails, but it's not what you would normally associate with the word. For a start, it's why I've lived for so long, and the process of becoming one granted me some of my powers. For quite a while now, I've been wandering the world on a whim. Staying here, and the blackmail which ensued, was a spur of the moment decision I made when I saw the piles of snow your daughter had made." Finished with her explanation, Miko took another sip of her tea. The cup was almost empty now. She felt satisfied with what she had told them, it was more than most people would ever know.

"You aren't planning on telling us any more than that?" The king asked after a while, having digested what he'd just heard. Not looking up and instead pouring herself some more tea from the pot, Miko replied, "Not unless you plan on telling Anna why she can't play with her sister anymore."

The king and queen, wincing slightly at those words, decided to clam up. The current situation with their daughters was still somewhat of a sore point for them.

"Speaking of which, Anna's birthday is next week, isn't it?" the hermit asked, her expression having softened at the thought.

The king, caught somewhat off-guard by the question, could only nod in reply.

Pulling out a piece of paper with a list of materials written on it, she handed it to him. "Would it be possible for you to procure the materials and tools listed there?"

The king skimming through the list, nodded and said, "Yes, quite easily in fact. What do you intend to do?"

"Just a birthday gift for your daughter." The hermit replied, the smirk back on her face.

* * *

Running her fingers over the block of wood in front of her, Miko turned it so that it caught the light. It had been exactly what she had asked for, and had been delivered only just now to her room by Kai.

It was the dawn of what would seemingly be another wonderful day, the sun shining through the windows onto her table. Miko would likely not be able to enjoy it though. She had run into Anna again after leaving the dining hall yesterday, obviously having given up on getting her sister to come out. She had returned to her room, barely mumbling a greeting as she passed the hermit.

Banishing the memory, she set to work. The tools were completely serviceable, and the wood responded easily. The activity was slightly nostalgic, bringing back memories from over a millennium ago.

_It really has been too long since I did something like this._

She thought back to all those years ago. Back then, it had been a set she was making. 66 different masks, each signifying a different emotion. Joy, Anger, Melancholy… it had been an immensely enjoyable experience. She remembered the care she had put into each one, setting aside some time every day to continue her work on the set.

She remembered the pride she had felt when she finished, each one finely crafted, evoking admiration in all who saw her handiwork. The sight had stunned Futo. Tojiko too, was left with similar emotions. Even Seiga, generally apathetic to such things as she was, had been impressed.

Clearing her mind of these thoughts, she returned to the task at hand, focusing on this one mask she was making.

* * *

Anna was currently lying on her bed. Her birthday had been more fun than she had had in several weeks. Mother and Father had spent quite a bit of time with her, as much as their duties would allow. She had received several presents; the one she was most fond of was a small bicycle. She had tried riding it through the halls only to continuously fall to the side, to the amusement of her parents.

The staff had made her a chocolate cake, which she had devoured in no time flat. Kai and Gerda even looked the other way at all the accidents she caused.

Even Elsa had talked to her for a while. It was through a door admittedly, but she hadn't told her to go away immediately, which was more contact than in recent memory. Elsa had wished her a happy birthday even! There was still some part of Anna that was saddened that even on her birthday, she could not see her sister or talk to her face to face. She was becoming rather conflicted on the issue, some part of her wanting to just give up on trying to reach her, while the other wanted to keep on in the hopes that Elsa would one day open up.

She had still mostly enjoyed herself though, and now as she lay on her bed, waiting for her sleep to claim her, she was content.

It was rather surprising for the young princess therefore, to hear a knock on the door, and to hear Kai's voice on the other side.

"Princess Anna? You have another present, from Miss Miko. Shall I leave it by the door or should I come in?"

"Come in, Kai." She said, in a slight daze. She had never expected a gift from the woman who had recently moved in on the top floor. Their contact had been limited to greetings when they passed each other, though she did sometimes stare at her hair. Miko would stare back at her, her expression unreadable.

Thinking back, she hadn't seen the woman today.

The servant entered and, with a bow, placed the present on Anna's nightstand. Wishing the princess another happy birthday, he left.

Grabbing the present with both hands, she pulled of the lid to the box it was placed in. Inside was a mask with a note on top.

Taking the note, she moved over to the window, trying to read the note in the moonlight.

_Dear Princess Anna,_

_My apologies for not having finished this by today, and therefore having to deliver it like this. I hope you do not mind. Having seen your efforts to reach your sister, I made this mask with that in mind. As a Mask of Hope, it will with any luck give you the strength to carry on and not give up. You deserve to see your desires realized._

_Yours truly,_

_Toyosatomimi no Miko_

Still surprised by she had just read, she lifted the mask. It was exquisitely made, most likely depicting her own face. The mask had reddish hair, with finely painted freckles on the cheeks. The colouring and lacquer both gleamed in the moonlight. Turning the mask around, she tried putting it on. It was slightly too big for her. Still, the mask and the note had eased the doubts she had regarding Elsa. Moving back into bed, she fell asleep almost immediately with the mask in her arms. She'd ask her sister about building a snowman tomorrow, she thought, before drifting off...


	3. A talk

Author's notes: Not happy with this chapter to be honest. But then, I haven't really felt like writing lately either. Hopefully, you people will enjoy reading this more than i enjoyed writing it.

For those of you who've followed this story, thanks again.

* * *

"So, why were you the one to bring me my dinner?" Elsa said, after a rather awkward pause. Well, awkward for Elsa at least. The one who had brought her dinner had simply taken the silence as an invitation to poke around her room. She now sat on a chair by the bed.

"Hmm? Well I thought it high time for the two of us to get a chance to actually see and speak to each other. " Miko replied after a while, her grey eyes boring into the princess' blue ones. "I have been living here for the past four years after all, yet the two of us have never even spoken to each other once in all that time."

The twelve year old fidgeted uncomfortably, trying her best to avoid Miko's eyes. She settled for staring at her own feet, examining her socks. To say that Elsa was uncomfortable would be an achievement in understatement, as the person currently staring at her was one she had next to no knowledge of. In addition, her control over her powers was tenuous at best, something that was made abundantly clear just last week.

"I meant, why my parents would allow you to," She said, looking up briefly before looking away again, "They haven't before."

"Hmm? Well, I suppose it's because I picked the right moment to ask." Miko replied. "It's really your own fault. They became rather concerned with your wellbeing when you refused to touch them a few days ago. I had to promise them that I'd give them advice on your situation first, but they let me in here." The hermit smiled a bit at this, and brought a hand up to her earmuffs.

Elsa seemed a bit surprised at that, she hadn't expected the reason to be her own behaviour of all things, though in hindsight, it seemed obvious.

Glancing once more at the person sitting across the room, her thoughts went to what she knew of her. All her knowledge of her had come from her parents; that she had moved in the same night the trolls saved Anna, and that she knew more than she should about most things. Apparently, she had made a mask for Anna on her sixth birthday, but other than that, she hardly interacted with others except at the dinner table. Personally, she had seen her some times in the library, while she had classes. What Miko spent her time doing other than that was largely a mystery though.

"If you don't eat your food soon, it going to get cold."

The words jolted Elsa out of her reverie. Moving over to the table where Miko had set down the tray and plates, she gazed at her dinner. To her pleasant surprise, there was a slice of chocolate cake among everything else. Smiling, she decided to save it for last. Gingerly taking a hold of the knife and fork, she cut her a potato into small pieces and started eating. It was slightly uncomfortable having someone watch her while eating though.

The hermit seemed content to simply observe her though; she had taken off her earmuffs, and was holding them with both hands, watching her. Elsa looked right back, becoming slightly nervous. Ice was spreading on the floor where her feet were touching. Miko presence was far more intimidating without the earmuffs, she realized. Her parents had spoken of her insight as slightly annoying, and that had been how she felt as well. Now though, it felt like being vivisected.

Then, in one quick motion, the hermit put the earmuffs back on again. Smiling apologetically, she said, "I apologize, putting you through that was hardly a nice thing to do. Curiosity got the better of me though. I didn't think you'd notice."

Elsa only nodded, the feeling just now having subsided. She had to struggle with herself lest it show however.

_Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't…_

"It's a bit late for that, don't you think?" Miko said sarcastically, pointing at the floor beneath the princess' feet.

Looking down, Elsa let out a yelp at the frost covered wood, inadvertently letting loose another bolt of _ismakt_ and freezing more of the floor. Crossing her arms, she stared at the floor, trying to supress her feelings. This was exactly the sort of thing she had been scared of, and why she had refused to touch her parents. Yet it kept happening!

Miko stared at the whole scene impassively, despite how enlightening it was in regards to Elsa's powers. Sighing, she said in a much more mellow tone, "You know, you could just run away from it all if it scares you that much." She did feel slightly bad for inducing such emotions in the princess, so hopefully this would take her mind off them.

At once, the ice stopped spreading, anxiety and fear giving way to surprise and shock. "Run away?" Elsa mouthed weakly.

"Yes, run away, live alone. Become a hermit. You'd be free to go where you will, and you wouldn't have to hide your powers. "

The thought was completely foreign for Elsa, who had up until now done her best to cope with what life threw at her. The prospect of just running away however and letting it all go … For some reason, it appealed to her, though she did not quite get why. It was still jarring though. Shaking her head, she tried clearing her mind of those thoughts. It would mean abandoning everything she knew, and Anna would be the one who would have to deal with the consequences.

"I couldn't do something … like that." Looking into Miko's eyes, she added, "What was that feeling I had?"

"You couldn't? No, not now at least. I'm relieved actually. It shows that you're a better person than me. Still, it might come to pass. It's hard to predict stuff like that when you're as young as you are Elsa. As for that feeling, most people don't feel that way, chalk it down to you being overly sensitive and me being overly careless. My power to hear a person's desires is generally very innocuous. Now then, I suggest you eat your chocolate cake, it should help your mood."

Glancing at the tray, Elsa smiled sheepishly. She had barely touched anything really, and yet she was already starting on the chocolate. Looking back at Miko, she said, "Did you run away? Is that why you consider yourself to be a bad person?"

"Well… in a sense, yes. Though I don't really consider myself to be a bad person, just not… good. I suppose faking ones death can be compared to running away. I was older than you were when I did it though. I promise to tell you the details in the future, so don't even think about it now." Miko added the last part as an afterthought, when she saw that Elsa was about to ask about it.

Slightly annoyed at being denied the answers she craved, Elsa was going to ask something else when she saw the hermit get up and walk towards the door. Surprised, she blurted out, "What will you tell my parents?"

"Only that it's not wise for you to dwell on things. It makes things worse, as you might have noticed. Really, I don't have all that much advice other than that, since I'm more interested in seeing you people solve this without my help. Last time I tried meddling too much in someone else's problems, I got shot."

There was another reason she wasn't going to say much however. As she had only gained the same level of insight into Elsa's powers as the girl herself had, and therefore presumably also the same level the king and queen had, she really didn't have anything substantial to add.

"So you're just going to observe me from the sides?" Though not letting it show, the answer both relieved Elsa somewhat but also annoyed her, as it meant that this person would be no help at all. She was going to say more, but the door was slammed in her face before she could.

Staring at the door for a few more moments, she turned around and went back to the table to finish her cake and the rest of her food.

* * *

Striding through the corridors, Miko came to a stop outside the gallery. Peering inside, she saw Anna inside, lying on top of a sofa and speaking to the painting of Joan of Arc. In any other person, this behaviour would be just a bit creepy. Anna made it both adorable and sad.

Miko smiled a bit at that, Elsa's problems were rather more serious than her younger sister's, and yet Miko found it much easier to care about Anna. Maybe because the younger sister wore her emotions on her sleeve to a much greater degree. Or maybe it was because Miko bumped into her far more frequently. Whatever the reason, Miko felt sorry for the girl. She liked Elsa as well, but Elsa had a way of pushing people away that made it less appealing to help her.

What made it even more sad was that Elsa wanted to spend time with Anna just as much as Anna wanted to spend time with Elsa, perhaps even more so. Unfortunately, due to Elsa's fear of losing control, she'd never act on those desires. Which left Anna in a rather awkward spot.

Even so, Anna still hadn't given up, and would still regularly knock on Elsa's door.

Sighing, she moved on. She had to tell the king her thoughts on Elsa's situation after all. Not something she was looking forward to, truth be told. In her head, she was already preparing her answers to the questions that would inevitably be asked. It's not like the king could blame her for being unhelpful, she had more or less told him straight up that that would most likely be the case.

As she walked down the corridor, she saw Kai waiting by the door to the audience chamber. Approaching him, she gave a curt nod, acknowledging his presence.

"Should I tell the king that you wish to see him, Miss Miko?" He asked. His face impassive as always. Really, Elsa should be taking lessons from this guy, he was able to curb his emotions far more effectively than she did.

Nodding in response, the servant entered the room. In her head, Miko was preparing her advice. As she went over it, she realized that the troll who had wiped Anna's memories had said something similar to what she was planning. Whereas he had been rather curt and cryptic however, she was preparing a rather long-winded and flowery speech.

She was thinking this when Kai came out of the room, gesturing for Miko to enter. Smiling, she strode in. She noticed that Kai had closed the door, and judging by his footsteps, was retiring for the day. Well, it made sense, he didn't know about Elsa's powers after all.

Looking the king in the eye, she prepared to speak. She was going to waste his time she knew, by talking a whole lot and saying very little, but it didn't matter.


	4. Not as planned

Author's notes: Character death in this chapter. Thought a warning might be fair. This chapter took a bit longer to write than the others, but then it is a bit longer as well. As always, enjoy.

You guys have no idea how hard I squee'ed when I discovered my story had favorites.

Also, I suppose I should answer the reviews. I'll PM you guys later.

* * *

"Well then, that's my conclusion, any questions?" Miko declared, gazing at the only member of her audience. The King stared right back, not looking very pleased, truth be told. Keeping her gaze for a long while, he finally spoke.

"I suppose … you've not actually said anything we don't know in regards to my daughter's powers. So your prediction about wasting my time came true, but I also suppose it means you aren't as good at discernment as you sometimes imply you are."

MIko bristled at the slight, scowling at the monarch in front of her. Sitting behind that elaborately decorated table of his, a stack of papers on one side, he looked far more regal than that night four years ago. Still, he had guessed correctly, no use denying that. "Omniscience is not quite within my reach, no. I had hoped that that would pass you by. Unfortunately, it seems statesmanship makes one better at detecting such things. It's been so long… I had forgotten that."

The king's expression changed when hearing the last bit, becoming more thoughtful. "I forgot, you apparently used to be a prince. That's not the same as a king though."

"True, but I was named regent, and as such ruled as emperor in all but name for quite a while before leaving." The hermit replied, shrugging. If this was going to last much longer she would rather sit. "I had to deal with quite a bit during my reign. A civil war, foreign powers, religious matters... it was a busy time."

"Oh, well that explains quite a bit. However, we are being sidetracked. I want to know more about your powers, and if they can help Elsa." The king was not to be dissuaded it seemed.

"Tenacity; as admirable as it is annoying." Miko said with sigh. "I thought I had made it clear that I wouldn't tell you anymore than I already have."

"You're right, and I would rather not press the issue. However, if it can potentially help Elsa, than I would like to know. I cannot force you, as you would simply reveal her powers to the world. I could reveal yours, but from what I know of you, you'd have no problems escaping from any mobs. Flight is an useful ability." The king now looked somewhat melancholy.

_Maybe I should ease up on him… Wait, how does he know I can fly?_

"How did you…" Miko began, but the king caught her off.

"My wife saw you flying up to pick an apple off the tree in the gardens." The king answered, he then added, "Look, is there anything you would accept in return for telling me more?"

"Anything? There's nothing you can offer me. Well, I suppose I'll take free access to Elsa's room. Not having to go through you every time I want to speak with her would be nice."

The king, to his credit, only nodded. "I can't say I'm surprised you would say that. Very well, you may. As long as you don't do so when she is having her lessons. Also, you may not bring Anna into her room."

Throwing up her arms in mock outrage, the hermit cried melodramatically.

"Curses, my plan, foiled; just like that! Alas, it seems that my days of glory are over, when all it takes to bring me low are the words of a minor king. Oh, why has fate seen fit to bestow this upon me?" Smirking at the king's utter lack of amusement, she quickly reverted to her usual, more low-key self, and said, "In all seriousness though, I likely won't visiting her all that often if that is the case. I learnt quite a lot today, enough to sate my curiosity for quite some while. I don't really feel like helping any of you either. I told Elsa as much earlier today."

The king's reaction was rather similar to her daughter's, annoyance mixed with relief. "I hope you are still going to tell me about yourself."

"Oh yes, let's see… my powers, hmm. Well, the one that I identify with most is the ability to hear a person's desires. It's very straightforward, I automatically hear the desires of those around me, and I can also listen to, keep track of, and take part in ten different conversations simultaneously. As a result, my ears are overly sensitive, and I wear earmuffs to keep from hearing desires and voices when I don't want to. I'm still able to wage a normal conversation however, but the earmuffs muffle noise to such a degree that it becomes hard to do so when not in private. Compare them to your daughter's gloves."

The hermit looked mildly bored as she recounted all of this. Though her eyes twinkled with amusement when she saw that the king had pulled out a piece of paper and jotted down notes on what she had said. Well, it saved her the trouble of explaining all of this again at least. Now she could just wave a piece of paper in people's faces.

"As for my other powers, they are even less similar to your daughter's." She said, shrugging. _Mainly because I had to learn them. _

"Well, it can't be helped. We'll keep on like we have till now, until she learns control. Also, I tried looking up hermits in the library a few months back." The king said, sounding annoyed.

"I imagine it went well." Miko said sardonically, a smirk once more on her face.

"No, it didn't." The king said, deliberately ignoring Miko's remark. "There was infuriatingly little information on what you are. I found more than I'd ever need on trolls, but only one mention on hermits. Apparently you lot are immortal. How old are you, Miko?"

"Let me think, the year is currently 1832, correct?" The king nodded in affirmation. "That makes me exactly … 1260 years old." Miko's smirk only grew more pronounced, as she saw the king's right hand suddenly stop writing.

The king had a hard time believing his ears. 1260 years? He had an interest in history, and so had no problems imagining the length of time from a scholarly viewpoint. Actually living through each of those years though? That was too much. It did explain parts of her behaviour, he had to admit, but still!

"I think you should go. I doubt I'll be able to learn much more today."

"As you wish."

With a dramatic bow, the hermit turned and left the room, precisely one hour and seventeen minutes after entering it. Unsurprisingly, the last ten minutes had been the only ones of any real value for her.

The king on his part shared the sentiment, though he was currently preoccupied with wrapping his head around his tenant's age. It took him another half hour to realize that the hermit's parting words were surprisingly sincere, though the bow less so.

* * *

_Several years since that particular episode. Elsa kept trying to control her powers, preparing for the inevitable day when she would be queen, and still refusing to open the door. Anna on the other hand was often neglected, though she kept a cheerful demeanour through it all, picking up a few hobbies. The king and queen ruled as always. Miko, as she had said she would, let them be for the most part._

* * *

Anna was in high spirits. Moving through the corridors of Arendelle's palace, she thought back to earlier that day. Giving her parents a farewell hug, waving to them as they boarded the ship to Corona. She had spoken to Elsa as well afterwards, for the first time in years.

"Uhm, hi…" She had said, hopefully not to awkwardly.

Looking mildly surprised, her sister had turned around to face her. Her look of anxiety gave way to a weak smile and she returned the greeting with the same awkward tone.

Unsure of what to say, the younger sister decided to just pick the safest topic and ignore the elephant in the living room. "So, uh, Rapunzel was found, and now she's getting married. Can you believe that? I barely even knew she existed. At least Mom and Dad will have to tell us about her when they get back from the wedding, huh?"

Her sister had said something to the effect of their cousin finally having something good happen to her, if the rumours of what had happened were true. They made small talk for a while, neither wanting to ruin this rare moment. Still, when they parted a few minutes later, both were happier than they had been before the conversation.

In a contented daze, she moved through the corridors, not quite seeing where she was going. As such, she only noticed her surroundings when she rounded a corner and crashed into Miko.

Knocked to the floor, she landed on the floorboards with a thump. _Ow, that hurt, did I crash into a wall or something? _Looking up, she saw that person she had bumped into was perfectly unharmed, standing straight. Not only that, she was holding a long, somewhat bulky package.

_Maybe that's why it hurt._

Suddenly remembering the situation, she started apologizing profusely. "Sorry, sorry, sorry…" The tenant merely smiled at her. "It's alright. No harm done."

"Uhm, what is that?" Anna asked, pointing at the package while getting to her feet. Miko, slightly surprised at bumping into someone, took a bit longer than usual to respond.

"This? It's a telescope. I just bought it from Recette." Miko actually had a slight blush on her face.

"Oh? Cool. Who's Recette?" The princess replied, back to her usual, cheery self.

That question seemed to be one Miko was expecting, as she answered almost immediately this time around. "The girl who owns the large shop by the harbour, lately, I've been going there about once a week. She has good stock, though it's impossible to haggle with her. Impressive really, as she has only been a shopkeeper for nine months."

Anna blinked a few times in surprise at that, she had thought Miko would be confined to the palace as well. She could not actually recall her parents ever saying anything of the sort though, so maybe she had simply assumed incorrectly. She hardly ever saw the tenant anyway, so she shouldn't really be surprised at this.

"What do you think?" The princess finally said.

"About what? The telescope or…" Miko said before Anna cut her off. "No. My cousin's wedding. What do you think? You know what happened right?" The two started walking together through the corridors, talking.

"Well, yes. Your cousin Rapunzel disappeared when she was very young correct? She reappeared not long ago, and is now getting married to the same guy who apparently rescued her." Miko gestured for them to turn left, as it was quicker to her room that way.

"Yeah. So?" Anna said, still expectantly waiting to hear her thoughts.

"Hmm? Well, it's undoubtedly nice for your cousin. I don't really feel anything special about it one way or the other, as I have never met any of the people involved. I'm more interested in how living inside a tower for slightly less than two decades affected her, and how many of the rumours surrounding her are true."

"Really? Why?" Anna was genuinely perplexed. Having a romanticised view of the whole affair didn't help, and having the least meaningful interactions with Miko out of her family meant that something like this was rather unexpected.

"Well… I can't say I ever was particularly interested in such matters. My own marriage was relatively loveless; we were married to each other because of politics and tradition, not love. We did grow genuinely fond of each other over time though." Miko answered while climbing the staircase to the top floor. Anna followed right behind her.

"Oh, uhm, that's unfortunate…" The princess mumbled, before asking once more. "What happened to the marriage? 'Cause you're here now, apparently single. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You know, being single, but uh; wait, what?"

Miko smiled a bit at how flustered she had become, answering in the gentlest manner she could. "Death got in the way of things."

"Oh, sorry…"

They had arrived in front of Miko's door now. Smiling, she asked Anna, "Would you like to help set up this telescope?"

Sadness replaced with confusion, Anna looked questioningly at the individual in front of her. "Who, me?" The only reply was a nod, as Miko opened the door to her room.

What followed was a slightly awkward display, as neither actually knew what they were doing. However, Miko quickly got the hang of things, and so she ended up setting up the whole thing while Anna sat on the chair by the table. The same table a mask had been made for her several years ago, incidentally.

_Whoa. Nice view. _She thought, gazing out the window. She could see the entire town and the harbour. "So, you've never used a telescope before?" She commented. The tone was somewhat teasing, but not in a malicious way.

Miko's blush had returned, but she responded without any problems. "Hmm? You had just as much problems as me with this initially, and you admitted you'd never used one either. Pot calling the kettle black much?"

Anna merely shrugged, she couldn't argue with that. Inadvertently, her thoughts wandered back to her parents' departure by ship, and the wedding they would attend.

"You know, you shouldn't assume so much. Just let it rest for the time being. Then, when your parents return, you won't be disappointed that what they tell you is different from what you envisioned." Miko said nonchalantly, correctly guessing the princess' thoughts.

"Yea, I guess you're right." Anna said, smiling sheepishly. "So, are you glad you bought the telescope?"

"Well, it's still a bit early for me to say, don't you think?" Miko replied dryly. "I've always enjoyed gazing at the stars, and Recette did advise me to buy this. Despite the price, she meant it when she said that I would probably like it. Still a few more hours till sunset though, so we can't say for sure in quite a while."

Anna merely nodded. She was actually slightly interested in trying the thing, and so when she left to ride her horse for a few hours, she told Miko she'd return when night fell.

_Maybe I should ask her about Elsa… no, never mind. She won't tell me anything, I'm sure dad has told her not to._

It was strange, but her longing to be with Elsa had only intensified since the short talk they had earlier that day. Opting not to think more about it, she left for the stables.

* * *

While nightfall proved an enjoyable experience for the princess and the hermit, for Arendelle's head of state it proved a far less pleasant affair.

The voyage had started out fine. A strong breeze had carried the ship quite a distance already on the first day, and prospects were that they would arrive maybe a day or so ahead of time.

Now however, they were caught in the middle of a storm. The king and queen embracing each other. The storm had caught them all by surprise, most of all the captain. While the crew scurried above deck to keep things working, the captain had calmly requested that the king and queen stay in their cabin.

As they sat there, huddled together, the king swore inwardly. He'd never envisioned this end for himself. Still, at least he would together with the person he loved most. It was a comforting thought, though only mildly so. So they sat there together in their cabin, waiting for their end or for the storm's end, whichever came first. The thunder became a distant din, the sound of the waves receding in their minds.

Their reverie was broken by the sound of screaming. All at once, the sounds returned full force, threatening to deafen them. However, more screaming could be heard through the din, as well as the sound of something heavy crushing wood.

It became too much for the king, he had to go out and see what was happening. Looking down at his wife, she nodded in unspoken agreement. Untangling himself from her embrace, the king ventured out of the cabin against his captain's advice.

What met his eyes as he stepped onto the deck was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. The deck was smashed beyond recognition, with the corpses of the crew littered everywhere. Gigantic waves rocked the boat, and some of the surviving crewmembers were swept overboard. What struck the monarch the most however, were the things apparently responsible for wrecking the ship. Littered across the whole deck were anchors. Some merely embedded into the wood, while others had smashed through. Looking behind him up at the wheel, he saw the captain doing his best to stay in control. Beside him, floating a meter or so above the floorboards was a girl, clad in a white sailor uniform. The girl was twirling a ladle cheerily while whispering something in the captain's ear. The captain snarled something back in response, though what it was the king could not hear. Judging by the look on the girls face though, she appeared insulted.

Catching sight of the king, the girl lightened up. An anchor seemingly materializing out of nowhere and into her hand, she twirled it above her head nonchalantly. She was shouting something, but the only words the king could make out were "career", "royalty" and "high-point". Without another word, the girl hurled the anchor at Arendelle's head of state.

As the giant metal object hurtled towards him, the king's last thoughts were of his family.

_Farewell, Elsa. Farewell, Anna._


	5. Aftermath

A/N: I am truly sorry about how long it has been. Over a month! Not very nice of me. Writer's block is annoying like that. Hopefully, you'll like this chapter.

Personally, I think this chapter isn't all that good. I rewrote parts of it 3 times, before going "screw it, it's not getting any better". Still, you guys might like it, one never knows.

Unfortunately, I cannot promise regular updates. I'll be spending quite a bit of the foreseeable future on schoolwork, so there's that.

* * *

When the sun rose the nest morning, almost nothing was left of the ship, save bits of flotsam floating around. The sea was calm, almost unrecognizable from last night.

Smiling to herself for a job well done, Murasa Minamitsu twirled her ladle. Sinking a ship always felt good. Though if she were honest with herself she probably should have left this one alone. If Hijiri found out…

In fairness, she hadn't known they were on their way to a wedding until after she had killed the king. She would have remained completely ignorant of the whole affair if the captain of the ship had not suddenly broken down and started ranting about it. She didn't catch much, but she did get the part about Corona and marriage.

Pulling out the map Nazrin had given her, she studied it a tad too intensely. Hopefully, looking for more of the vault would put her mind off what she had just done.

_Now, where had that girl marked the next piece… of course it's in Corona. _

Groaning to herself, she flew up, up above the clouds, to where her ship was waiting for her. The Palanquin Ship was as impressive as the day it had been made, the sails billowing majestically in the wind. The ship's captain hardly noticed today however, hopping on like it was routine, while willing it to move. Reacting to the unspoken command, the Palanquin Ship responded, and set a course for Corona.

* * *

"What a dismal day."

Despite the words she had just muttered to herself, Miko was not actually in a particularly bad mood. Certainly not compared to three days ago, when the news of the royals' death had reached her. She had been downcast for about half the day before getting over it. Even then, she had taken it much better than the princesses had. Anna had become very quiet, wandering the halls. Meanwhile, the already reclusive Elsa flat-out refused to leave her room, even during the times she was used to doing so.

Sighing, she took another sip of her tea. It was best to finish the stuff while it was still hot. It really was nice of Recette to make a fresh pot. Then again, Recette was almost always nice, letting Miko sit in her kitchen until she concluded today's business the store. It wouldn't be too long now, Recette had always had somewhat unorthodox opening hours, but today everyone would be closing up shop soon. In memory of the king and queen, apparently.

The funeral itself would be small, for royals at least. The late king had never been one for fanfare anyway, so it fit quite well. Dying en route to a wedding… somewhat less so. No doubt, the people over in Corona were saddened as well. Gazing up at the grandfather clock in the corner, she took note of the time.

_Four hours until the funeral._

Nothing to do until then but sit here and wait.

Listening intently, she could hear Recette finish up in the other room. She could hear the heavy tread of the leaving customer, and the front door closing.

"How did it go?" She said, not even bothering to look away from the teapot.

"How did what go?" Recette replied, slightly confused. Like most of Arendelle, Recette had been rather saddened by the king and queen's death. Unlike most of them however, she hadn't let it show to any significant degree, and had gotten over it about as quickly as Miko had. Which happened to be the one of the reasons the hermit was sitting in her kitchen, as Recette's shop was one of the few places where a pervasive gloom wasn't present. The other reason was attire.

"Did he buy anything?" Miko said, clarifying.

"Oh him? Yeah, I was able to convince him to buy that ornate chest I got from Charme." Recette said, her short brown hair swaying slightly as she cocked her head slightly to the side. She was clad in her usual shopkeeper's attire, which consisted of a shirt, skirt and a sleeveless jacket. Said jacket had two large pockets filled with notebooks and pens. "Now then, would you like for me to get that dress for the funeral?"

The hermit merely nodded. The fact that she didn't have anything suitable to wear for a funeral irked her slightly.

Still, there were other issues besides that. For one, it was highly unlikely that Elsa would show up. In fact, she'd bet Recette's shop, annual income and her own shaku that the young girl woudn't. Which was annoying, as her absence would raise more than a few awkward questions, and make a certain someone even more depressed.

There was also the question of who would be acting as regent until Elsa's coronation. As Miko understood it, that wouldn't happen until she was twenty one, three years from now. Hopefully, the regent, whoever it ended up being, wouldn't see fit to kick her out. She really didn't want resort to blackmail yet again. Then again, maybe leaving for a while would be better, she could always return in a few years' time…

Taking another sip of her tea, she cleared her mind of such thoughts. There was no point in worrying about that now, she'd only ruin her own mood.

Right on cue, Recette reappeared with a black dress, bursting through the door. "Found it! Here, try it on."

Acquiescing to her request, Miko changed. She was grateful for the distraction; even if Recette's bubbly nature was slightly disconcerting. She didn't actually look bad in the dress, and it fit her nicely, but she disliked it all the same. Luckily, she'd never have to wear it again. The odds of her attending another funeral were minimal.

"I'll take it. How much did you say it was?" Miko said, after having changed back to her regular outfit.

"Yayifications!" Recette declared. "Oh, and it was 30."

"Can't complain I suppose. Not like with the telescope. Fine." With a sigh, the hermit handed over the money, taking a few minutes first to sort out the coins.

Recette took it all with an elegant swipe of her hand. "Glee. I sold a black dress for 30 kr!"

Miko shook her head with an amused expression on her face. The young girl always had this childish vigour when selling and buying. It was somewhat reminiscent of the way Anna could act at times, though the two had some major differences as well.

Pleased with herself now that she had gotten that out of the way, Miko sat back down at the kitchen table, finishing the last of the tea. Recette joined her shortly thereafter.

"Did you enjoy the telescope, by the way?" She asked while preparing another pot of tea.

Miko gave a wistful smile at that. It was only a few days ago that she had bought the thing, but it felt longer. "Yes, I'm glad I bought it. It was a rather enjoyable experience."

"Yayness! I knew it was the right thing for you." Punching the air excitedly, Recette then brought the freshly brewed tea to the kitchen table, and sat down opposite Miko.

The shopkeeper kept talking while the hermit listened.

* * *

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Elsa awoke with a start, gasping for breath, knocking her head on something as she straightened. As she looked around to see what had hit her head, she realized that had fallen asleep on the floor, back propped up against the door. The same door she had banged her head against just now. Shifting slightly, she ran a hand over the back of her head while thinking of what had just woken her up. The words that had woken her up were Anna's, even if the voice wasn't.

At the thought of Anna, guilt washed over Elsa again. All of the words her younger sister had said were true; they did only have each other now.

_People have been asking where you've been._

A bitter smile grew on Elsa's face. Of course they had, it would be odd if they hadn't. The heir to the throne couldn't just skip her parents' funeral and expect no one to bat an eyelash.

"Elsa, I know you're in there. May I come in?"Miko's voice sounded from the other side. Without even waiting for a reply, the hermit opened the door, forcing Elsa to scramble to her feet and step out of the way.

The hermit entered, sporting her usual expression of mild amusement. For some reason, Miko's demeanour, and her use of Anna's oft-repeated request, annoyed Elsa to no end right now. Her guilt and grief had been swept away, replaced by irritation.

"What are you here for? And was imitating my sister really necessary?" The words may have sounded a bit more hostile than was intended, but Elsa wasn't going to apologize just yet.

"Well, it woke you up didn't it? A princess really shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, you should be thanking me." Miko replied, the amused smirk still present. It disappeared however, at the sight of Elsa's frown, and the ice that was slowly spreading across the floor. Instead, she put her hands up in a placating gesture, and her demeanour instantly became more apologetic.

"Forgive me. Now is not the time for such things, is it? Truth is, I merely came to check on you. I'd also like a favour, but that can wait."

Somewhat mollified, but still in a bad mood, Elsa waited for Miko to continue. When it didn't seem like she'd say anything more, instead seeming content to merely stand in front of the door, Elsa slipped back into her own thoughts.

Shutting out Miko from her mind turned out to be easier than feared for the princess. Her thoughts kept drifting back to her parents however, so it wasn't any comfort at all.

"Huh. I didn't realize you kept a diary now… but then, I haven't expressed any interest in your life for a while now, have I?"

Turning around, she gazed over at Miko, who was now standing by the table and holding up her diary. Frost coated the cover, and a dry rectangular patch on the table showed where the book had been resting previously. There were more books on the table as well, on geometry and history and other assorted subjects.

"No, you haven't." Elsa said, unsure of what else to say. That's not to say she didn't try to think of something however. She needed this; she needed something to distract her.

All of sudden, a thought popped up in Elsa's head. "Do you remember your promise to me?"

Miko's expression instantly became impassive, grey eyes losing all traces of levity.

"The one about telling you everything about how I faked my death?" she said slowly, each word carefully pronounced.

"Yes."

Giving an overdramatic sigh, Miko plopped down on Elsa's sofa. Which; despite being covered in a thin layer of frost, was still comfortable. "Fine, fine. You're 18 now, so I suppose it's alright. Where should I start? No, don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question."

Slightly annoyed at being cut-off like that, Elsa folded her arms in a huff. Miko simply flashed that annoying smile of hers once more, before continuing.

"I suppose I'll start by explaining who I used to be. I was known as Prince Shoutoku. I trust your father has told you everything I told him?" Miko asked, before smiling at Elsa's nod. The King had indeed shared with his daughter everything Miko had told him. Like her father, Elsa had had issues comprehending Miko's age.

"Good. That'll save me some time. I was the next in line to the throne, and I ruled as regent for most of my "official" life. For 29 years, I ruled Japan."

Miko paused a bit, allowing the words to sink in, before continuing.

"At some point in my life, I grew dissatisfied. The fact that I was fated to die one day irked me; a lot. So I started looking for a solution. At this point, the only religion in Japan was Shinto, which was no help at all for things like this. I was in luck however. A hermit approached me one day, you see. And she had a solution to the problem. If I converted to Taoism, her religion, and went through all the necessary training and whatnot, I could become an immortal hermit, like she was."

Elsa's eyes widened at this. Of all the things she had expected, it hadn't been this. "I'm confused. How did this lead to you faking your death?"

"I was getting to that." Miko replied, slightly annoyed at the interruption, though she was glad that Elsa was paying attention. "Well, I naturally jumped at the opportunity. An issue arose though. See, my teacher, she … did not really have my well-being in mind. Simply put, she pointed me in the right direction, but I had to figure out most things on my own. That lead to me ingesting quite a few things I probably shouldn't have."

Miko paused once again, this time more for dramatic effect.

"Long story short, my quest to attain immortality lead to me almost killing myself. Ironic, no? In desperation, I performed a ritual which involved dying and then being resurrected. I had a friend do it first, in order to see if it was safe. When I had confirmed it was, I sealed my soul into my sword, leaving my body to die. When I awoke, my original body had transformed into a sword, and the sword I currently inhabited changed shape to become my new body. Did you catch all of that?"

Elsa nodded dumbly. Looking at the hermit standing in front of her, then glancing at the sword hanging from her waist.

"So that then is…" she said, gesturing at the weapon.

"My original body, yes." Miko answered, twiddling her thumbs absentmindedly. "Is it alright if I ask you for that favour now?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well, it's simple really. I want to stay a while longer, so if you would be so kind as to tell whoever is going to be regent until your coronation to _not _kick me out, I would very much appreciate that."

Elsa blinked; she'd never even considered the thought of kicking Miko out. Once again, she felt annoyance well up within her. Why did every talk with the hermit result in her suddenly realizing something obvious? First, it was running away from everything, which was becoming a rather attractive prospect, truth be told; and now it was kicking tenants out. Sighing, she nodded, sinking back into her own thoughts.

"Well, I've said all I wanted to say. I'll leave you alone now." Miko said, eliciting another nod from the princess. With that said, the hermit got up from Elsa's sofa and left.

* * *

A/N: So... someone asked about Gensokyo... simply put, the place doesn't exist. And it won't, not for another 40 years or so. Frozen is set around 1840, while Gensokyo was founded in the 1880s. I am not changing those dates.

I would like to thank everyone who has left reviews, as well as followed and/or favorited this fic.

And once again, sorry for the wait.


	6. Old friends and New developments

A/N: Woo! You guy's didn't have to wait an entire month this time! It was really close and it really doesn't make things any better, but it makes me feel better, so I'll just hold on to the feeling. At any rate, we've finally come to the "3 years later part". Things might actually start happening now.

As always, enjoy the read. Again, do leave a review if you consider the story worth it. They brighten my day, even if I don't always reply to them.

Notes continue at the end, like last time.

* * *

With that issue dealt with, Miko let out a relieved sigh as she stepped out the door. Unless the regent was an idiot, she was safe.

Glancing at the grandfather clock at the end of the hallway, she took note of the time.

"Huh, time for breakfast." She muttered to herself. Smiling, she headed towards the dining hall.

Not that she actually _needed_ to eat - being a hermit, she could survive for a month without any meals - but it felt better than going around in a halfway hungry state. Alternatively, she could just leave the castle and consume some fog, that would also work. She had never liked fog though, so she decided against it. Neither the consistency nor taste had any appeal.

With the air of someone utterly free from worry and stress, she strode into the dining hall; taking a seat opposite Arendelle's other remaining royal.

"How are you this morning, Anna?" she said, while pouring herself some tea and piling some sandwiches on her plate. Eyes roaming across the room, she took note of the servants standing at the side, the low-hung chandelier, the alabaster coloured walls, and the food on the table. Mainly the last one.

"Fine, fine, actually. I feel better than I have in a while." The princess said animatedly. Though perhaps a little less cheerful than before the accident, she did indeed seem to be well on her way back to her usual self.

Miko gave a smile in return. In her mind, this was one of the better possible scenarios.

The two sat there for a while, drifting in and out of conversation while eating.

"Are you going to eat that?" Anna said suddenly, after another lull in the conversation. She was pointing at Miko's last sandwich. The hermit had yet to touch it.

"Uhm…"

"We can finish each other's! Here, have mine." Without another word, the redheaded princess swapped Miko's sandwich with her own.

Miko sighed, but didn't say anything, simply accepting it as one of the princess' quirks. She'd eaten her fill anyway.

Gazing at the food arrayed on the table, she noticed that only one slice of the chocolate cake had been eaten. No points for guessing who, though she'd have though Anna would have eaten more. "Aren't you the sort who can't get enough of chocolate?" she asked.

"Well yeah, but that cake tastes… different. And not a good different either." Anna replied, eyes narrowing slightly while she looked over at the cake.

"Really?" Glancing at the cake, Miko reached over to take a slice for herself. Cutting off a small piece, she tried it.

"Well, I can say for certain that there's no mercury in it. It doesn't taste any different from any other chocolate cakes I've tried." Miko said, taking a sip of tea to wash down the piece of cake.

"That's because you don't know chocolate as I do!" Anna declared, a look Miko could only classify as stubborn on her face.

"Evidently not." Miko muttered to herself. Fortunately, the princess didn't seem to hear. She was busy going off on a tirade about chocolate which Miko simply decided to shut out, while keeping a polite smile on her face and going "uh huh" and "right" at fitting moments.

Personally, Miko didn't find chocolate to be all that noteworthy, compared to all the other sweets she had tasted throughout the years. If she had to pick one, she'd pick caramel waffles as her favourite, due . The concept of having to pick one annoyed her though, variety trumped any singular taste in her book.

Her rumination over sweets ended when Anna gestured for one of the servants to come over, having finished her rant. The servants, who up until now had been doing their utmost to look like statues by the wall, shared quick looks with each other before one dislodged himself from the pack and walked over. The rest resumed looking inconspicuous; some of them having nailed it down to an art form, having less character than the block of wood Anna's mask was made from.

"Yes, your highness?" the servant said, having reached the two.

Slightly flustered now, Anna nonetheless put on her best authoritarian voice and asked, "Right… Uh. First, who made this cake?"

"The new cook." The man answered.

"Oh. Well, uhm, why did we hire a new cook?" Anna asked, seemingly surprised at getting such an answer.

"One of them retired. A replacement was needed." The servant replied.

"Well… alright, I guess if he's new I'll let it slide." Anna muttered, slightly sheepish now.

"Actually, it's a she, Princess Anna." The servant corrected. Though he didn't show much in the way of expressions, Miko couldn't help but wonder if he was enjoying himself immensely. Hard to be certain without taking off her earmuffs though.

"Right, well… the point still stands." Anna retorted. After a moment of silence, she got up and added, "Anyway, I have to go. Classes."

"Hmm, right. See ya." Miko muttered offhandedly as the princess hurried off. Well, that was an unexpected end to the meal. Now what was she going to do now? The solution to the problem presented itself when the servant turned to leave.

"Hang on, stay." She said, taking another drink of tea. "So, who are you?"

"Magnus, madam." The man replied. He seemed slightly apprehensive.

Verbosity clearly not being the man's strong suit, she decided to simply ask more about the new cook. Magnus was not the extroverted type it seemed, so it'd be easier to talk about someone other than himself.

"So, the new cook, anything unusual about her?" Miko said, pouring another cup of tea as she did so.

"Actually there is. The other servants have been talking about it. She has white hair, and speaks rather archai – careful!"

Miko had maintained an impassive demeanour, pouring her tea, until Magnus started describing the new cook. At which point Miko promptly stood without thinking, causing the tea to spill, and thereby causing Magnus' sudden concern.

"Sorry, but I have to go, thank you for telling me that, Magnus." Noticing what was in her hand, she set down the teapot and assuaged Magnus' concerns once more.

And without another word, Miko bolted out the door as well. Weaving through the corridors with ease, she made her way towards the kitchens. Joy welled up in her chest at the though of seeing an old friend again. Truth be told, telling Elsa about the shikaisen process had made her somewhat nostalgic, so this couldn't have come at a better time.

When the three Taoists had reawakened, they had sticked together for a time. However, when it became clear that Buddhism was not about to die out, there had been some confusion as to what they were to do now. Tojiko, the only one of the three to actually _die permanently, _had suggested they split up, do some soul-searching. Miko and Futo, though not outright opposed to the idea, had regarded it with some scepticism, before conceding that it might be for the best. The three had made their first priority to ditch Seiga, so she wasn't an issue at that point. And so after the farewells were said, the three had split up.

And now, two of them might very well soon be reunited, after over a millennium apart.

With some trepidation, Miko pushed against the kitchen door. It swung open easily, and she stepped inside.

Before immediately bursting out in a fit of coughing.

The kitchens were covered in a thin smoke that wafted at around the level of Miko's chin and above. It wasn't really too bad, the smoke was too thin to impede her sight in any way, but inhaling it was proving to be unpleasant.

Standing there in the kitchen doorway, she could hear voices behind the corner. Taking off her earmuffs, the muffled voices suddenly became clear. It also amused Miko somewhat to discover that she could hear two people - members of the staff most likely - making out above her.

"That's the last time I leave you in the kitchen's alone! Why Kai agreed to hire you I'll never know." A rather deep voice, to be sure, probably the head cook then, judging by the way that he seemed to project authority.

"I can assure thee, 'twas only an accident. I shall have it sorted presently. Thou need only go outside and breathe some fresh air with our colleagues, and when thou hast returned, the smoke will be no more."

… that was definitely Futo. No one else would speak like that in this time and age.

"Didn't you just hear what I said? I'm never leaving you alone in here again! In fact-" Whatever else the man had planned to say was cut short by him suddenly developing a coughing fit.

Figuring that now would be a nice time to cut in, Miko strode through the smoke and round the corner to where she figured the two stood, interposing herself neatly between the seemingly young white-haired girl and the tall and pot-bellied cook. Whom she now saw was holding a meat cleaver in his hand.

"What seems to be the problem?" Miko asked suavely. Now that she was a bit closer to him, she could much more easily grasp the cook's character. A bit of a temper, but generally a reasonable fellow it seemed.

The cook cast Miko a dubious look at her sudden entry, but seemed to simply roll with it.

"Oh, nothing. Simply the fact this girl here," an accusatory finger was jabbed in Futo's direction, who incidentally, was going through about a dozen facial expressions a minute at Miko's entrance. ", was able to start a fire and burn what was going to be today's royal dinner in a span of 5 minutes while my back was turned." The man spoke through gritted teeth, clearly doing his best at restraining himself.

Good then, this was someone who knew himself well enough to know that his reasoning was not the best when angry.

The cook pointed at the counter, where an entire pig rested. Almost all of it had been burnt black. Miko gave a rueful smile at the sight. Some things never change it seems.

"Right… well, you and I both know you aren't in the best mood for handling the situation right now. How about you go outside like this girl told you to, and then come back later? I'll keep an eye on her for you, so there shouldn't be any problems. I'll even put in a good word for you with that pretty maid who does the laundry." Miko flashed what she assumed to be a disarming smile. She frankly just wanted some time alone to chat with Futo right now.

The cook mulled it over for a few moments, looking at Miko more closely, she recognized her from the few times she had wandered in the halls around here. Apparently, she was close to the royal family. At the very least, they let her do as she pleased most of the time. Picking a fight might not be the best course of action, all things considered.

"Fine, but the smoke better be gone by the time I return."

Miko and Futo watched as he stomped out, not bothering to hide his displeasure. They listened until the sound of his footsteps disappeared, or as was the case for Miko, until the sound of his footsteps had dimmed somewhat.

Turning around, the former regent turned around to regard her fellow hermit, who she now saw, was just short enough to avoid breathing in the smoke.

Lucky her.

The two stood there in silence gazing at each other, before Futo suddenly gave a happy cry and embraced Miko tightly.

"Well… this is somewhat… awkward." Miko breathed out after a while, before giving a low chuckle, mirth evident in her tone. Somewhat tellingly, she had returned Futo's embrace with almost no hesitation.

Futo laughed as well. It was a rather nostalgic sound, clear and melodic.

"It has been truly been too long, has it not, Crown Prince?"

"Yep. How did you come to be here-, no wait." Miko cut herself off, listening to long tales wasn't quite what she had in mind right now. That could wait. "Don't answer that. When you have time off later tonight, let's go out, and you can regale me with tales of what you've been up to until now."

"Verily, I expect thee to reciprocate of course." Futo replied, a wide smile on her face.

Her slightly oversized white shirt swayed slightly as she turned to address what she had been ordered to by the man who had left not too long ago.

Miko watched as Futo summoned a light breeze, gently guiding the smoke. Before long, she had gathered all of it in a decently sized ball in her hands.

With the faintest traces of pride lining her smile, Futo sent the ball out through the window with a flick of her wrist. The ball flew in a straight line for a short while, before suddenly ballooning out over the fjord.

Miko gave an appreciative chuckle. "Nicely done." It might not seem like much, but Futo had always been extremely receptive to praise, especially when directed at her accomplishments.

"Gramercy, Crown Prince." Futo replied. "'tis most kind of thee."

"You're welcome." Miko said, before adding, "Do explain to me why you still speak like that though."

"Pray pardon?" Futo said, before lifting a hand to indicate that she wasn't finished. After mulling it over for a while, she continued. "Would you prefer it if I speak like this Crown Prince? It is undoubtedly more modern, no? Yet, it seems off somehow. I guess I simply prefer speaking like we used to. It seems more natural to me, if that makes sense." Her head cocked slightly to one side, Futo regarded Miko with her grey eyes. "Should I speak like this from now on?"

_Wow, you really haven't changed. At all._

"No, it's fine. I was just curious. Then again, you were never fond of change, were you? You clung to Taoism and Shinto when Buddhism came over from the continent, and then there were all the times you burnt down those statues and temples. In fact, thinking back to those days-" Miko cut herself off suddenly. Her ears had picked up something.

"Hmm? Wherefore didst thou stop?" Futo inquired, a puzzled look on her face.

"It would seem your boss is returning." Miko answered, shrugging nonchalantly. "Oh well, it's a shame, but we'll catch up later at the tavern. I'll be in my room until then, so just come up when you're done for today."

"Indeed." Futo replied. Listening intently, she too could now detect the heavy tread of her superior. Sighing, she shook her while speaking. "'twas lovely to see thee again, Crown Prince. I look forward to tonight."

"Hmm, as do I. I'll actually have someone to drink with for once. Recette's too young, she's fourteen. Anna's in the same boat, she's fifteen. And Elsa wouldn't go to a tavern with me even if the Yamas themselves decreed it." Miko said as turned to leave. She stopped and turned her head by the doorway to catch the last of the conversation.

"Thou art friends with the Royal Family? 'Tis a lie if I say I am taken aback. Thou hast much to tell me it seems." Futo said, an amused look on her face.

"That I do." Miko replied.

Having said that, she left. Popping the earmuffs back in place as she did so.

* * *

3 Years later

* * *

A smirk played across Miko's lips as she regarded the what stood in front of her. Beside her, Futo was livid, though she masked it well. Still, little clues gave it all away, like how a small fireball had been conjured in her right hand, while the left one was so tightly clenched that her fingernails were digging into her skin.

"I'm guessing that there _isn't_ supposed to be a bust on that cake." Miko said, her magnificent cape rustling with the slight accompanying gesture she had made. Her smirk had only grown more pronounced with the comment.

"A thousand curses upon the princess! May her teeth fall out and her legs rot!" The white-haired hermit swore. Unlike Miko, Futo could evidently see nothing amusing about having her cake demolished.

"… that's a tad excessive, don't you think?" Miko deadpanned. "I know you Futo. When you curse someone, it tends to end up worse than what you threaten them with."

"I did spend six hours on that cake! Six hours of painstaking care, ruined by the whimsy of an adolescent princess!" Futo exclaimed, her rage having given way to shock, which was an improvement, however small.

"Right, I get it. It's kind of silly to get this worked up though. You've lived as long as I have. Getting this attached to a cake is unseemly."

Futo seemed to mull over those words for a bit. Giving a long sigh, she calmed down noticeably.

"Forgive me Crown Prince. Thou art right, as usual."

Miko felt a pang of guilt at those words. She had pretty much convinced Futo to die for her in the past, in a conversation similar in some ways to the one just now. Shaking her head, she buried the feeling. The past is in the past.

"Come on. Let's go to the chapel, the coronation is soon." She said, extending a hand to Futo.

Slightly belatedly, Futo took it, allowing herself to be lead.

* * *

Elsa regarded the assembly in front of her with trepidation.

_So many people…_

The coronation was almost at hand, beside her, her sister stood, slightly fidgety. Only natural Elsa supposed, neither were exactly used to occurrences like this. Behind her, the choir stood on their balcony, singing.

In the back, sat Miko and another, white-haired girl in pleated white robes. Miko herself wore her regular outfit, as always. The only difference being a deep blue cape with a ridiculously ornate and detailed dragon, which - did the dragon just blink?

Opening and shutting her own eyes a few times, Elsa noted with some relief that the dragon had made no other movements. She turned to the others in the room.

She recognized a few other faces. There was Eugene and Rapunzel, whom she recognized from a painting of the entire Coronan royal family that she had received a year prior.

There was the Duke of Weselton, though he looked noticeably older than the portrait Elsa had seen of _him_.

There were also Kai and Gerda, who stood by the sides, as always.

She heard the archbishop tapping his foot once on the floor. Turning slowly, she steeled herself for what was to come.

Breathing in and out, she nervously extended her hands to take hold of the orb and sceptre when the archbishop interrupted her.

"The gloves, your majesty." He said, regarding her with a look she could have sworn was patronizing.

Nervousness suffusing her, she gingerly took off the gloves, placing them on the cushion in front of her. Then, without pausing a beat, she picked up the regalia and turned around, holding it as was customary.

Behind her, the archbishop started reciting the words that would mark her ascension to the throne.

_Conceal, don't feel._

In her hands, the orb and sceptre were acquiring a coat of frost.

_No! No!_

Behind her, the archbishop had more or less wrapped up his recitation, ending it with "Queen Elsa, of Arendelle."

Moving as quickly as she could while still looking natural, she placed the orb and sceptre back on the cushion and put on her gloves once more. Relief flooded through her. The worst was over it would seem.

* * *

A/N: Right. This chapter introduced my all-time favourite Touhou character. Sorry folks, it isn't Miko, but Futo who's number one for me.

As you might have noticed from reading the chapter, I am not good at writing in the archaic style the fandom renders Futo's dialogue in. If one of my readers is actually proficient with that, do send me a message telling me if her dialogue was any good.

Well, until next time then.

PS. One last thing... as I'm rather tired right now, there are likely quite a few typos and grammatical errors in the text. If you spot any, could you please let me know?


	7. Denied

_A/N: I'm back with another chapter. _

* * *

_The worst … might not be over after all. _

Or so Elsa thought, as Anna walked away, a forlorn expression on her face. She quickly lost her among the crowd, a rare occurrence. Well, seeing her sister was itself a rare occurrence.

At the very least, her sister had truly grown. She was beautiful in that dress, even if Anna regarded her older sister as superior to her in that respect. Elsa herself doubted it though.

She sighed, some part of her wanted to just confess everything, to tell her sister everything; about her powers, about the accident all those years ago, about the trolls and about the memory spell. But how could she do that? It was for Anna's own wellbeing that she was keeping this secret, lest she hurt her once more, this time irreversibly.

"I wish it could always be like this." Anna had said.

Elsa brought her hand to her face. How could she have been so stupid? Of course Anna would want that, just like herself. In fact, going by what she knew of her sister, which admittedly was less than one might wish, she would likely want it more than herself. It was just like her to torpedo those wishes, and to top it all off, she could not even give a satisfactory excuse for it.

The painful feelings were threatening to emerge again. With some effort, Elsa forced herself to focus on the here and now. This was her coronation party after all, she might as well wring some enjoyment out of it.

* * *

There would be opportunities to talk to her sister later, she was sure of it. Time to find ways to work everything out. Worst case scenario, get Miko to help out. She really did not want to do that though. Miko was too enigmatic.

Having calmed herself down, she turned to address the next person who had come to greet her and offer his compliments.

Miko bit her lip as she watched the guests dance about. Some were simply getting more and more inebriated, though none had actually descended so far that they had trouble speaking or moving.

The guests were all, for the time being at least, evenly spread out across the room. There were a few relatively dense clusters here and there, but the overall impression one got was that the room wasn't crowded, though one couldn't exactly call it empty either. It hovered right in front of the line that said "packed", not quite crossing it.

The party had, so far, been rather fun. Unlike either of the princesses, Miko was not starved for contact. Even so, it had been a long time since an occasion such as this, mingling with the high and mighty of Europe. It had an altogether different feel than getting drunk with Futo at the tavern. The amount of noise was slightly annoying though, but not too bad. She could deal with for now.

Speaking of Futo, the girl was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Which was not all that odd, even if it was a bit alarming. Futo had not changed much. This was a good thing in the sense that it made it easy for Miko to reconnect with her. However, it was bad as it would be all too easy for a diplomatic incident to occur. Miko could still vividly recall when Futo burnt down Sakurai-ji.

All it would take was for something to really startle or scare the girl, and they would have a fire on their hands. Miko would rather they avoided that. Shaking her head, she took another sip of her wine.

"Enjoying yourself?" She heard a voice say from her right. Looking around, she saw Elsa delicately make her way towards her. Miko noticed how the queen seemed reluctant to touch anyone. She had a polite smile on her face, and seemed happier now than Miko could ever have remembered seeing her.

"Hmm, I was. Now I'm worrying about Futo." Miko replied, scrutinizing the assembled guests in front of her.

"Who?" Elsa asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"The white-haired girl with me at the coronation. The one with the multi-coloured tassels." Miko clarified, shifting all her attention onto the queen. "I suppose congratulations are in order. It's not every day one becomes queen. I must say though, you definitely have no trouble looking the part."

Elsa chuckled slightly at that. "Thank you. I don't often hear compliments from you, so I'll count myself lucky."

"Hmm, you want more compliments, is that it? I'm not the one you should ask though, I'm not a good boot-licker." Miko replied mockingly.

Elsa bit her lip in consternation. "Look, I didn't-" she said, before Miko cut her off.

"Relax, I was merely teasing you. I figured I should be nicer to you, seeing how it's your coronation day and all." Miko hastily amended. She gave her cape a dramatic swish to underscore the point.

Elsa calmed down at those words, lips forming a polite smile. She folded her hands in front of her. "Thank you."

"Well, now that that's out of the way. How have you been? The court officials and the like been giving you trouble?"

"No, they've been rather accommodating, actually. Though I'm fairly certain it'll be different from now on, now that I've taken the position."

"Hmm. I remember being regent. It was fun, but the formalities were annoying." The hermit's expression became wistful. "If Futo was around, she'd easily keep you up all night talking about those days. She's always been somewhat self-centred like that. There was one time where she - why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing, nothing." Elsa said hastily, a smirk playing across her lips. She seemed to find the situation amusing in some way.

"Really? Nothing?" Miko asked, expression completely unamused. She did not like the feeling of being ignorant. In fact, it was one of the feelings she hated the most in the world.

_Like when Seiga "forgot" the fact that cinnabar would kill me. I was completely helpless and at her mercy. All because I foolishly trusted her word without investigating for myself._

She gritted her teeth at the memory. With practised ease, she calmed down. No point getting worked up now. She opened her eyes, not realizing that she had closed them in the first place, to catch Elsa's reply.

"It's simply that you seem to enjoy reminiscing just as much as you claim your companion does. I haven't met her, so I wouldn't know, but I know you enjoy talking about yourself. So maybe you're the self-centred one."

"…really? I don't think you've talked enough with me to know that…" Miko narrowed her eyes at the princess.

"Really. Well, it was the impression I got from you. But you do seem to be restraining yourself. I feel like you would have little problem going on about your life back then. But you also consider it to be valuable, so you want something in return for it." Elsa replied, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

Miko sighed, the queen in front of her was far more attentive than the little girl she talked to nine years ago. Perhaps it was time to lift the earmuffs once more? No, she had just said that she'd be nicer.

"Well, you're not wrong. I can be… verbose, at times. As for restraining myself, there may be truth in that too."

Elsa actually seemed annoyed by the answer. Interesting, what was going on in that pretty head of hers? She had been right though, in regards to some things at least.

"I see. Well, if you're fine, I'll be moving on then." She said, making a sweeping gesture with her hand, indicating the rest of the room.

"Wait, one last thing before you go." Miko said, grabbing her by the shoulder before she turned to go. "How are _you_ feeling?"

A pause followed. Elsa had stiffened noticeably at being grabbed. However, she quickly calmed down. She seemed to be formulating her response in her mind. Unfortunately, Miko was never able to hear it, as Anna chose that moment to return, hand in hand with some well-dressed fellow with brown hair.

* * *

When Miko's hand grabbed her shoulder, panic flashed through Elsa. No one had ever touched her in a many years now. Considering her lacklustre control over her powers, it was a necessary precaution. And yet now Miko had ignored that.

Then again, it could just be a symptom of arrogance, that Miko considered herself powerful enough to disregard the risks.

Whatever the reason, the sensation was unusual, but it underscored Miko's question. What was she feeling right now?

_What indeed._

She was enjoying herself, there was no doubt as to that. It was a refreshing change to be able to move around freely and address all the people here. At the same time, many were curious as to why they had shut the gates. Lying left a bad taste in her mouth, so she generally tried to redirect the conversation to less awkward topics, while steadily offering whoever asked more wine. So far, it had worked, but Elsa had grown weary of all the deception. It mirrored the feelings she had felt with Anna earlier.

She was going to try and put all this into words when-

"Elsa!"

-her sister's voice called out, and she trotted over holding hands with some brown-haired fellow.

As if deeming her earlier address to the queen improper, Anna stopped and corrected herself. "I mean; queen. Me again."

Eyeing the two as Anna and the man curtsied and bowed respectively, she was rather nonplussed at their expressions. Both seemed inordinately happy. The shift was especially noticeable on Anna, who had looked rather sullen when they last parted.

The queen felt movement on her shoulder; prompting her to turn around when she realized that it was simply Miko removing her hand. In the corner of her eye, she could see the hermit regard the two with a thoughtful expression. A small smile emerged when she met Anna's gaze, before disappearing afterwards.

Miko had now pulled out her shaku, and held the wooden object with both hands in such a way that her mouth was obscured from view.

Shifting her attention back to the pair in front of her, she regarded the man as well. He was dressed in a white jacket with golden epaulets, underneath which were a green shirt and a red sash.

Pushing the man forward, her younger sister introduced him. "Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles." The prince bowed; face the very image of friendliness.

He didn't beat around the bush, whatever that bush was, as he immediately started talking after bowing.

"Your majesty," A pause, where he and Anna shared a look. ", we would like your blessing," A giggle, this time around, as they both said the same thing, or tried to, at any rate. ", for our marriage." The two cuddled together as they finished their request.

"Marriage?" Elsa said, trying her best to contain her shock. To say that this had caught her flatfooted would be an understatement. She had never even considered the thought of Anna simply deciding to marry someone she had just met. She wondered if she'd simply misheard. It was the preferable answer.

"Yes!" Anna replied, glee evident in her tone.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Once again, an understatement. She was getting some excellent practise in concealing, not feeling today.

"Well, we haven't worked out all the details ourselves. We'll need a few days to plan the ceremony, of course we'll have soup, roast and ice cream." Anna had been gesticulating randomly up until now, but now she suddenly turned to Hans, as if suddenly realizing something. "Wait, would we live here?"

"Here?" Elsa said, incredulous. Sadly, Anna seemed to only have eyes and ears for Hans, so the utterance and it's implications went her by.

"Absolutely!" The prince replied.

_Good lord. How did this madness even start?_

"Anna." Elsa said, trying to get her sisters attention. However, it would seem the princess only had eyes for Hans at the moment, which peeved off Elsa more than she thought it would.

"Oh, we can invite all twelve of your brothers to-"

"What? Wait, no, no no no no." Elsa said, frantically getting the words out, but to no avail.

At this point, Elsa had gotten the message. These two were serious about this. Which was unfortunate, as the very notion of marrying someone you just met was one that had no business in this world, outside of the daydreams and fantasies of people.

Her sister was still talking, but Elsa had stopped listening and was focusing more on stopping this and nipping the whole affair in the bud, so to speak.

"Wait. Slow down." Elsa said, speaking louder this time and finally cutting off her sister. She had calmed down a bit. "No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married."

"Wait, what?" Her sister replied. She looked honestly shocked by this turn of events, and Elsa got the sinking feeling that this was more serious than she had thought.

"May I talk to you please? Alone?" She pleaded. It sounded a tad more desperate than she would have liked, but now wasn't the time to be worried about her own tone of voice.

Anna visibly hesitated a moment, but then she straightened up, paradoxically also moving back into Hans' arms, "No. Whatever you have to say, you can say to the both of us."

Cursing inwardly, Elsa nonetheless steeled herself. She could deal with this. "Fine. You can't marry a man you just met."

"You can if it's true love." Anna retorted. She honestly didn't seem to grasp why this wasn't going to work.

A chortle sounded from beside them, though neither of sisters saw fit to pay any sort of attention to whoever had made the sound.

"Anna, what do you know about true love?" Elsa said, weariness now evident in her tone. Her patience was running thin, this was not what she had expected to hear, and it was dampening her previously good mood even more than she had thought.

"More than you. All you know is how to shut people out."

Right, that had done it.

Before that line, Miko still held hope of a calm and sensible resolution to this mess. Anna's latest retort squashed those hopes and tossed them out a window in a bag.

_An emotional outburst is inevitable at this point._

When Anna had dragged Hans with him, Miko had decided to merely shut up and observe. This was the sort of stuff she had said she would not meddle in, after all. The relationship between the two sisters. Well, that and the ice powers. Though at this point one could easily lead to the other, considering how Elsa's emotions influenced her powers.

When Anna and Hans had mentioned marriage however, Miko had promptly stared at her wine glass for all of half-a-second before downing all the contents in one gulp.

At that point, Futo had also returned. Luckily, she quickly caught on and kept quiet as well.

And so they had. And barring the mention of true love where Futo couldn't help but chortle, they had been able to keep quiet throughout the whole scene. Though by the end Miko was wondering if it was strictly necessary. They likely could have started singing and the sisters would barely send them a strange look.

Beside her, Miko noticed that Futo had a thoughtful expression as well. Considering their common background, they likely both comprehended the issues here.

"You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no. Now, excuse me."

With those words, both Miko and Futo snapped out of their respective reveries, and shifted their attention on the queen once more. She was moving now, past the young couple.

Hans was speaking now, but what concerned Miko more was that Futo was moving towards Anna. Hesitantly, to be sure, and she seemed to be working up the courage to say something.

"No, you may not. And, I think you should go. The party is over, close the gates." Elsa commanded, the guards responding at once.

What happened next was slightly unusual, as it marked two hermits each trying to get the princess' attention and failing.

"Well, that was a rather awkward return to the status-quo. I don't suppose we'll be seeing anymore betrothals anytime soon, will we?"

"Fair princess, 'tis most regrettable, thy current situation. However, thou must see reason. 'Twas nothing mo-"

Futo stopped herself from saying anything more, as she noticed that Anna had ended up yanking off Elsa's glove. Stepping back a few steps until she returned to Miko's side, she looked up at her. The Crown Prince's face was for once impassive, something Futo rarely saw. She also noticed that one hand was resting on her earmuffs, which made it easy to guess what she was thinking.

_She asketh of herself if she should remove them._

"Elsa, please. I can't live like this anymore." Anna pleaded, anguish plastered all over her face.

"Then leave." The older sister breathed. She had folded the bare hand into elbow and looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh dear," Miko said, standing beside Futo, ", here it comes."

"What did I ever do to you!?" Anna cried, loud enough that people began to turn to see what the commotion was about.

"Enough Anna." Elsa whispered, moving towards the door.

"No why?" The younger sister cried, relentless. "Why did you shut me out? Why did you shut the world out? What are you **so afraid of**?" The last three words were almost a shriek.

"I said **enough**!" Elsa cried. The outburst was accompanied by a sweeping hand motion, which caused a sheet of icicles to burst out from the floor in a semicircle around the queen. The closest guests promptly moved out of the way.

There were several long moments of silence, punctuated by gasps and quiets exclamations. Most were unable to believe what they had just seen. Meanwhile, Miko and Futo were busy facepalming and groaning respectively.

Fumbling for the doorknob, Elsa located it, and without another word, bolted out the room.

* * *

Usually, in situations like these, the smart thing to do is to calm down and review the situation. What happened, why did it happen, stuff like that. Even more important was not panicking, so as to reduce the likelihood of stupid accidents that could have been avoided. Needless to say, things did not progress in such an ideal manner.

True, there hadn't been any panicking, but people were most definitely not calm. Only Hans, Anna, some assorted lord, and his two bodyguards had run after the fleeing queen, the rest looked as bewildered as a flock of lost sheep. Silence pervaded the room, and it was only broken when Miko and Futo stepped towards the semicircle of icicles on the floor.

"It's been awhile since I last saw a live demonstration of Elsa's powers." Miko muttered under her breath.

"What are we to do?" Futo asked, running her fingers over an icicle. She had never seen Elsa's powers in person, so a part of her was glad for this development. Not that she would admit it to anyone other than Miko, and even then, only if asked directly.

"Hmm, I'm honestly not sure." Miko replied. Standing there for a while in thought, she eventually said, "Come on, let's go see what's happening."

Futo followed in silence, taking in one last look of the ball room before she left.

Outside in the courtyard, pandemonium reigned. The people were confused, somewhat understandably, and no semblance of order could be found. The twin fountains had both been frozen, the water having turned into two clawed hands made of ice. Patches of snow and ice dotted the place, obscuring the cobblestone in many lord was busy getting up on his feet, looking severely disconcerted. Likely due to slipping on the ice and falling down. No points for guessing how the ice had got there.

Miko and Futo brushed past this, moving down towards the fjord through one of the minor archways. On the way down the stone stairs, they passed Hans and Anna. As they did so, Miko sent an apologetic smile at Anna.

The four stood together, watching each other and the frozen fjord for a few moments, before Anna and Hans started walking up towards the courtyard. Turning, Futo started to follow them, before Miko's arm shot out to stop her.

"Stay. I want you do to something else."

Confusion flitted across her face, but she quickly nodded. "What dost thou wish of me?"

"Follow Elsa's trail. Don't contact her yet, but when she stops anywhere for anything more than a brief rest, come back here and tell me her whereabouts. There'll be a bit of running back-and-forth, you up for it? Have enough plates?"

"Yes, of course, Crown Prince." She nodded.

"Good. Now go." Miko commanded.

Nodding her assent, Futo whipped out a plate and jumped on it. In an instant, the piece of ceramic had changed in several ways. For a start, the ceramic had become wood. Secondly, it was now much bigger. Thirdly, it was now flying. The plate had been turned into a flying boat. Hopping on top, Futo flew over the frozen fjord with considerable speed.

Miko smiled a small smile as she saw Futo speeding off, before turning and following the route Hans and Anna had taken.

Moving up the stairs, she thoughts wandered to what had just happened. The fact that Elsa just revealed her powers meant that her piece of blackmail was worthless now. However, she might not need it anymore. Finally, after many years of waiting, things were starting to happen. This might very well be what fixed the relationship between the two sisters. For both their sakes, Miko hoped so.

Scratching her chin thoughtfully, she contemplated the other factors. Elsa had revealed herself in front of both the people here as well as all the foreign dignitaries that had been sent. She had spoken to the French and Spanish ones personally, and both were genial enough. However, it remained to be seen how their countries would react to the revelation that Elsa had the powers she had.

Furthermore, there was the question of whether the people of Arendelle would accept their queen having those powers. Though that was the issue Miko was least concerned about. She was in town regularly, sometimes with Futo, sometimes with Recette, and sometimes alone. The general consensus among the people was that the Royal Familiy were wonderful people. This might shake their trust in her, but the people would likely still be able to give her a chance.

Now, the final and most important issue.

_How will this affect me?_

* * *

Anna smiled grimly to herself. She mad made her decision. She would go after her sister, and bring her back and end this sudden cold weather.

"Fetch me my horse!" She shouted, noting with some satisfaction that someone immediately went to do so. She was Arendelle's last remaining royal after all, and thus the _de facto _leader.

"No, it's too-" Hans tried to say, but another voice drowned out his.

"Wonderful idea. Fly after her and repair your relationship. I like it." Miko said, sauntering over.

"You do?" Anna said.

"Of course. Ah, here's your horse now." Taking her hand, Miko guided Anna to the animal and helped her get on. "Now then, I'll be running things in you absence, is that alright?"

"WHAT?" Hans cried, though he was hardly the only one. The Duke of Weselton had made the same sound.

Anna herself was extremely confused. Miko had been nice to her all her life, but she had also kept secrets from her. She was also engaged to Hans, so wouldn't the right thing be to put him in charge? It was hard to choose. Now that she thought about it, there was no garuantee either would do a good job. Hans was a great guy. Funny, charming, dreamy... but he was similar to Anna in many ways, and Anna was unsure if that was a good thing when running a nation in a crisis such as this.

Miko was... enigmatic. Enough said.

"Uhm..." She decided to just put Hans in charge, it was her original intention. "No. Prince Hans is in charge."

"On my honor." The prince said. He looked truly humbled. Perhaps it was the right choice after all.

"I... see." Miko on the other hand, was visibly outraged. Her pupils had dilated, and one hand was resting on her sword. It was the first time Anna could ever recall seeing Miko angry. Now she decided, she could have gone her whole life without and never missed it. It was horrible feeling that the caped individual exuded right now.

She put it out of her mind and rode into the night. Right now, her sister was the pressing issue.

* * *

A/N: Well then. That was that chapter done. As always, review if you feel it merits it, follow if you like it, and favourite if you _really_ like it.


	8. Intrigue

A/N: Well well... a new chapter. Haven't had one of those in a while. Yeah... I honestly don't have much to say beyond sorry. I kinda got inspired to finish this little chapter due to my friend Luimnigh, since I beta'd the last chapter for his fanfic. I also sorta got jealous, that may have something to with it. Parsee would probably understand.

* * *

Recette was unsure why she was still awake. It was late at night and her store was closed for the day. Yet there she sat, at the counter, with a novel in one hand and the other tightly clutching a steaming mug of cocoa.

Business had been slow that day. She'd made some money early in the day selling flowers and ribbons and other decorations. However, by midday, that had dried up too. It was only to be expected, honestly, considering it was the day of the coronation. Regardless, it irked her to have a slow day at the store. She had grown quite fond of her job, and it just felt wrong when a day passed by without a throng of people having looked through her shop.

Unless it was too early an hour. She still loved sleeping through the mornings, clutching her blanket and revelling in the calm and comfort of her bed, then taking her time in getting up and preparing a sizeable breakfast for herself.

Indeed, one would be hard pressed to say that Recette was slumming it. Over the past couple of years, she'd done quite well. Well enough at least, that one day of poor business would be of no consequence. She shifted in her plush armchair, leaned over to scribble a few notes in her ledger, and surveyed her store. It had not changed much over the years, although last year had seen the addition of a rather comfortably sized cellar, for extra storage mainly. Other than that, still the same as always. Nice wide windows that let in the sunlight, illuminating wooden floorboards and the wares for sale, with square glass frames that housed the wares themselves. Most people seemed to like it as it was, so she felt no particular need to renovate.

Recette herself had grown over the years. Now a young woman of 17, she had gained around a third of her head in height, as well as gaining more adult proportions. Her face remained mostly unchanged though, still the same cheerful old, if slightly more mature.

She had been feeling a mild sense of déjà vu the latter half of the day. She was unable to recall exactly why though, which was bothering her slightly. Putting it from her mind, she took a sip of cocoa and returned to her book.

Her concentration was shattered when the door swung open, and a familiar face stomped in.

Outside, she could see the swirling snow, gliding down lazily, gently prodded by the evening breeze. The road outside the shop had already been coated with a fine, powdery layer, obscuring the flagstones beneath.

It would have been a perfectly fine December evening, if not for the fact that it was supposed to be the middle of summer.

"Heyo, Miko! How was the coronation?" the storekeeper asked, resting her chin on the table.

The hermit regarded the shopkeeper with a wry smile, as she was wont to. This time around though, Recette noticed, it was slightly strained.

"Fine, fine. Aside from the freak weather, runaway royalty and impromptu engagements, it was pretty decent," Miko replied, striding over to the counter. Whipping out a handful of coins from seemingly nowhere, she placed them before the shopkeeper. "I'd like that old cognac you've got stored away."

"Glee, another ware sold. Capitalism-"

"Ho!" Miko finished for her, chuckling.

Quickly taking charge of the money handed to her, and noting to herself that it was the correct amount, Recette scurried off to find the alcoholic beverage. There were a couple things worth noting just now, she felt. Most obviously would be the remarks about the runaway royalty and impromptu engagements, but she might also be getting an explanation for the sudden snow as well.

The second thing would be Miko herself, she seemed to be in a bad mood. Well, that was what the young shopkeeper suspected.

Ideally, the old adage of _in vino veritas _would prove true and she would have all her answers, regarding both the wedding and her customer. In her experience, Miko was not a melancholic drunk, so it probably would.

* * *

Futo grumbled to herself as she trudged up the mountain. She was kicking herself for her little failure. On the horizon, she could see the sun rising, casting its orange glow on the snow covered mountains. Or parts of them, at any rate.

It had all started out reasonably well. She had located the runaway queen, and had been shadowing her for a while. However, Elsa's pace had proven torturously slow, and as nothing else happened, Futo had more or less dozed off on her boat. When she awoke, the queen was long gone, and her tracks had been whisked away by the continuing snowfall.

She had initially panicked, before a certain sense of resignation sank in. As far as she was aware, Elsa was operating almost entirely off the desire to put as much distance between herself and Arendelle as possible, which meant an abrupt change in course was unlikely. With that in mind, and well aware of the faults in her own reasoning, Futo had hopped off her boat and set up the North Mountain.

She was nearing the peak now. A minor perk with this trek was that the terrain was getting a bit more treacherous, forcing her to stay alert. In addition, she could use it to bitch and moan at Miko and thus get some extra sleep later today.

First things first though, she had to actually get to the top. With a weary sigh, she walked on, trying to ignore the snow slipping into her boots. After a few minutes, Futo ceased all attempts and gave a frustrated cry.

"Argh! A thousand curses upon this damnable snow!"

The words were punctuated with a blanket of fire erupting in all directions from the little hermit, which melted the top layer of the surrounding snow. It was with some dismay that Futo noted that she had in effect made something even more annoying to walk through. With a sigh, she ascended into the air, before stopping completely. Behind the cliff face she had seen something jutting out.

Curiosity piqued, Futo drifted over to get a better look. What she saw made her eyes widen a great deal.

"Oh." Was all she was able to say, as she gazed awestruck at the ice palace looming over her.

The next moment the feeling was whisked away by more than a bit of smug satisfaction. She had located the queen after all, unless ice palaces had suddenly become a feature all mountains bore.

Somehow she doubted it. Time to return and report to the Crown Prince. With any luck, she would be in bed within an hour.

Pulling out a plate from with her sleeve, she disappeared from where she stood with a gust of wind. Left behind, at the base of the ice staircase leading up to the palace, was a white ceramic plate.

* * *

"Ok… so, you're miffed because you didn't get to run the kingdom in Princess Anna's absence." Said Recette, as she slowly stirred her cup of tea. The stuff was the only thing keeping her awake she wagered. Meanwhile, Miko had filled her in on everything that had happened after the coronation.

Miko merely nodded in reply. As far as Recette could recall, Miko never actually got drunk. Fairly tipsy was the worst she had seen. And now the Crown Prince was sobering up.

It was actually rather impressive, she had downed the entire cognac within an hour, and tipsy was the worst she had gotten.

"She handed the reins over to her new fiancé, Hans, as I said." Miko eventually remarked. "Honestly, getting engaged to someone you just met and then handing the kingdom over to him? Foolish doesn't begin to describe it."

"And, you're just waiting for Futo now…" Recette continued, taking a sip of her drink.

Another nod.

"She's late." Miko finally said, seemingly musing. "Elsa cannot have been moving all this time. Someone cooped up their entire life does not possess that sort of stamina."

She glanced over at the plate on the floor. When Miko had stomped into the room, she had just unceremoniously dropped it there. Somehow it stayed pristine and whole.

It turned out to be rather prophetic, as Futo did materialize with a breeze at that exact moment, the plate disintegrating beneath her.

"Ah good. You're back. We were just talking about you." Said Miko, twirling her shaku playfully.

"Oh? 'Twas-" Futo began, before cutting herself off with a wave of her hand. "No matter. I have done as thee asked of me, Crown Prince, and located Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Whence the North Mountain did I come, and there she may be found."

"Will she be staying put?"

"Verily, of that I have no doubt."

"Good, then we need not concern ourselves with her for a little while." Getting up from her chair, the Crown Prince began pacing the room, both hands on her shaku. "Futo, go and get some rest. You'll need it, for I'll have you shadow Anna's betrothed next. In the meantime, I think I'll go get some fresh air and ponder our next move."

"What? More tailing?"

Miko stopped at the doorway, before turning around and flashing her most charming smile. "You needn't worry. I'll keep track of him long enough for you to get the sleep you desire."

With that said, she turned and left. Recette lazily waved goodbye, while Futo just grinned.

Futo turned and gave a corteous little bow to Recette. "Well, I do suppose I shall be leaving thee as well. Farewell. Thou wouldst seem to be in need of sleep as well."

"Kay-o. See ya then." The shopkeeper replied before stifling a yawn, getting up she prepared to go sleep as well. With the sudden winter, business was likely going to be terrible in anything but blankets and wood, neither of which she had in stock. Sleeping in would not be a problem.

As Futo left the room however, she heard her stop, and a sudden "thunk" sound. After a few moments, Futo walked back in, holding up an arrow made of blue light. On the tip hung a rat, which had been shot through the back it seemed.

"Art thou often plagued with these vermin Miss Lemongrass?" Futo asked, puzzled.

"No. This is the first one I've seen in here in years," Recette replied, concerned despite her lethargy. "I guess I'll go put out some traps when I get up later then. I'll probably just break my own finger if I set them now."

"Mhm, seems prudent. Well, fare thee well then."

Recette waved goodbye yet again, before slinking upstairs and into her bed. She fell asleep within moments.

* * *

While Futo made her way towards the palace to her room, her departure from the store was noted by two other individuals hiding in the alleys next to Recette's store.

"Yeah. I'm sure. The mice have given their report. It's in there. The shopkeeper has it, even if she hasn't put it on sale yet. My dowsing rods and pendulum say the same thing." The first figure said, a rather short individual with an oversized hat.

"Alright. How about the treasure vault pieces?" The second asked, nodding. This one was significantly taller, and seemed to hold some sort of authority over the other.

"There also in the area, but we've yet to locate them. Hang on." Getting down on one knee, she let a mouse crawl on to her hand and listened intently. Eventually she said, "Yep. Still haven't pinpointed their location yet. Also, one of my mice just got killed. Apparently by that white haired girl who left the store just now."

"Ah. I'm sorry. You ok?"

"Yeah. Though she should be careful, that girl. Mice and rats enjoy meat just as much as grain and cheese. The meat of humans is no exception."

"Uhuh," The tall one replied, laughing nervously. "You scare me sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah. Absolutely. I think we should keep moving now."

"Sure. Let's go."

* * *

A/N: Some of you will probably guess who these two are. Some might not. I hope. Regardless... I don't have too much else to say, beyond the fact that I'm hoping I can put up chapters at a reasonable pace again. Those of you who still follow this, thank you so much.


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